God is teaching us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The carefulness with which we follow the Lord is important, but even that effort can become only a legalistic and religious form.
A generation ago, a book was written teaching Christians to be imitators of Christ, to try to decide what Jesus would do in a given situation. At the time, it seemed to be a revolutionary idea; yet it contains an element of falseness in that a person who follows this teaching still has his own mind on the throne. He decides what Jesus would do in a situation, and then makes up his mind to react accordingly. The same problem can happen in following the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we are not careful, we can err by being legalistic, that is, laying down rules which define what God wants. To avoid this, there must be a flexibility within our spirits.
II Corinthians 3 shows us how this flexibility comes to us; it reveals the keys of change. We should not read Romans 8 without also reading II Corinthians 3 and 4. When we speak about the manifestation of the sons of God, we are speaking about Christ’s manifestation within us as God’s sons. The Body of Christ is not a conglomeration of distinct, individual beings; it is an organism.
Those who believe that God and man are to be separate entities, and always will be, are wrong. God’s purpose is to transform us “into the same image from glory to glory” (II Corinthians 3:18). The apostle Peter also voiced this idea in II Peter 1:4: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Christ’s goal is to reproduce Himself in us. Romans 8:29 tells us that He is to be the firstborn among many brethren. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, because He that sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father (Hebrews 2:11). God is bringing forth one spirit, one integral essence, in the earth. This is a great miracle.
If you do not believe that you will take on the divine nature, then neither can you believe that Christ took on the human nature. If He had not become totally man, if He had just been God in a form like a robot, then it was all in vain, because the Father intended that Jesus become totally man in order that we can rise totally to the divine nature. Paul explained, … though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. II Corinthians 8:9. From the glory at the right hand of the Father, He came all the way down, so that we could rise, from that bottom level, all the way up to His throne.
We still do not grasp the significance of the fact that we will all be one, and we will reign with Him. Of course, this does not mean that everything will be swallowed up until there is only one being, numerically speaking. We are talking about one being, spiritually speaking. Jesus was one with the Father (John 17:22); yet numerically, we sometimes think of three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, there is one God, one Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4). We can understand this because in the spirit realm, we do not deal with numbers. We deal with numbers only in the physical realm, the realm of personalities and beings and physical things.
This principle can be seen when people gather into a congregation. There may be many people; but they all have one spirit, they all flow as one. As the Body of Christ, this is what we should strive for—not to come together as a congregation of many individuals, but to come together in a oneness of spirit, to flow into one spirit.
It is important that we understand this principle of oneness, because being led by the Spirit does not just mean that Christ moves and we all trail along behind Him with a distinction in spirit as though we were many different essences. Rather, we are to be one spirit.
Revelation 19:14 speaks about the armies of heaven, the great hosts of the saints who follow after the Lord. But twice, when the manifestation of the Spirit through one of these saints caused John to fall down and worship him, he said, “Do not do that; I am of your brethren. I am one of you. Worship God” (Revelation 19:10; 22:8–9). We will not worship one another, nor do we want to be worshiped as God; but we are bold in faith to believe that we will participate in His very nature. In spirit, we will actually become one with Him.
This involves more than just our spirits being aligned with Him. To be led by the Spirit means that we will suffer with Him. We will reign with Him. Everything He feels, we will feel. Already, He feels everything that we feel. Because Christ took on our humanity, because He took on our flesh, He is touched by the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). He is sensitive and alive to our infirmities.
Matthew 25:34–46 makes it very clear how closely He is identified with us. There Jesus said, “If you feed one of the least of these My brethren, you feed Me. If you offend one of these, you offend Me.” That is how closely He is identified with us, but actually it is more than being identified; it is being identical.
I Corinthians 12:12–14 tells us, “The body is not one member, but many members; so also is Christ.” Christ is a many-membered Body. In the spirit, Christ has relinquished His individuality; and in the spirit, we do the same when we come into a walk with God. This is true even though we are still individuals as far as physical personalities or distinctions of ministry are concerned. The human body illustrates this very clearly. A person’s finger cannot be mistaken for any other member of his body, yet it is just as much a part of that person as his thumb, or his ear, or his foot. They are all part of one person. There are many members, but one body; so also is Christ. As members of the Body of Christ, we are all part of one Spirit.
How can you accelerate the process of becoming identical with Him? How can you absorb His nature? Efforts to discipline yourself to pray and read the Bible a certain amount every day are good, but they can easily become only a legalistic bondage. It is not how much you read the Word or listen to messages that determines your growth; it is how much you see and partake of Christ in it, how much you are truly exposed to Christ in it.
In II Corinthians 4:1 Paul said, “We have this ministry.” What ministry was he talking about? For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. Verse 5. In order to understand this Scripture, we should also read II Corinthians 3:17–18: Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
The teaching that reaches the mind is not what changes you, because you tend to hear it and forget it. God is bringing a way of ministry in which the Word is preached, not with human understanding, but with faith to impart something of Christ into the hearts of those who hear. To the extent that the hearer of the Word can open up to the revelation of Christ, to that extent he will be instantly transformed and changed while he is hearing the Word.
You may hear a Word and say, “I’ll meditate on it, and after a while it will bring forth fruit.” However, I question how effective that is, because human beings tend to forget approximately eighty percent of what they hear. It is what you absorb that you walk in. If you were asked to give a review of all the sermons that have truly moved your heart, you probably could not remember many. Nevertheless, an accumulation, a deposit of God, has been made within your heart, inasmuch as you were open to that Word when you heard it; and that Word has changed and transformed you.
This principle is described in II Corinthians 3:6. Paul spoke about the ministry of death, saying, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” He was pointing out that the legalistic preaching of the Word can minister death. Some people who have never heard a sermon in their lives are closer to God than others who have heard sermons every Sunday which were unanointed letters of the Word. Someone who has never heard the Word at all may be less dead, if that is possible, than someone who has heard a letter that kills. The fact that a person is very religious does not mean that he is not dead. You can be dead in trespasses and sins, and those trespasses and sins can be very religious in nature.
God is showing us how to think about change and how change is to come. Change is not a matter of reform; it is a matter of being transformed. In fact, the Greek word for “transformed” used in the passage “we are being transformed into the same image” is the origin of our English word “metamorphosis.” A metamorphosis is a complete change of life form. Metamorphosis is what happens to a worm when it becomes a butterfly. Metamorphosis is what happens to the old nature when it is exposed to Christ. It goes through the work of the cross, the purpose of which is to put to death the old nature so that a new nature will come forth. As we experience the work of the cross, our fleshly reactions die; and God puts His attributes in us. We come forth with a new nature because we take on the attributes of God.
Eternity is the first of the attributes of God that you take on when you believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “If you believe in Me, you will never die” (John 11:26). Your spirit comes alive to God and you take on His eternity. It is scriptural to believe to walk in resurrection life. Through all the ages, the plan and purpose of God has been to bring forth sons in His own image, in His own grace and power.
In addition to His eternity, we also take on His love. In the first century, John preached, We love, because He first loved us. I John 4:19. Because God has shed abroad His love in our hearts (Romans 5:5), we have the capacity to love—not with a human love that fails, but with God’s love.
Concerning the end time, Matthew 24:12 tells us, “Because iniquity abounds, the love of many will wax cold.” Romans 1:31 describes men in the last days as being without natural affection, unloving, and unmerciful. Never before has there been a time in which so many women desert their families as today. It used to be the men who deserted their wives, leaving them stranded at home with the children; but that is not always the case anymore. Today it is almost as common for a woman to run away and leave her husband with the children, simply because she does not want to be bothered any longer. A woman who does that is without natural affection, without the instincts which are natural to a mother.
These natural instincts can be seen in the example of a mare whose colt had wandered onto a highway and collapsed. Even though cars and trucks were racing by, the mare would not leave her colt. She was terrified, her eyes wild with fear, but she was ready to fight for that little colt. Something instinctive within her was set to defend her offspring. We have those instincts too, but that is not what the love of God is. The love of God is not a buried human instinct; it is something that comes by transformation. We receive it from God.
Do you believe that there is a lot of good in everyone? That may be true, but there is a lot of bad in everyone too. When the Pharisees boasted, “We are the sons of Abraham,” Jesus replied, “You are of your father, the devil” (John 8:39–44). We were born in sin and iniquity; therefore, righteousness is a matter of transformation, as our hearts are open to God.
Even the faith to believe comes from God. Ephesians 2:8–9 tells us, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Nothing you can do will please God, except to believe His Word. If you are open, God will plant a seed of faith in your heart when you hear the Word. As you believe that Word, you come alive. Peter explained, “You are born by the incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which lives and abides forever” (I Peter 1:23).
Change comes only by exposure, by the way you open up to God. If you can open up to God and be exposed to Him, you will be transformed and changed into the same image, from glory, to glory, to glory. As you continue to be open, you will be transformed to an ever higher glory, until you are changed into His very image.
II Corinthians 3 compares the way the Law came with the way grace comes. The letter of the Law came when Moses went up on the mountain and God gave him the Law. The administration of the Law by legal requirements, which are death to man, was so glorious that when Moses came down, the skin of his face shone. But the people were not able to look upon that glory, and so they put a veil over Moses’ face, saying, “We can’t look upon this glory—it is death to us. We don’t dare look upon the glory of God.” It is interesting that whenever Moses went before the Lord, he took off the veil; but when he talked to the people, he put the veil back on.
We read about this in II Corinthians 3:7–13: But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was (a better translation reads, “which was to fade away”; after a little while the glory did fade away, and the same old Moses with wrinkles and furrows in his brow went right back to business as usual), how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away (Moses’ glory faded away) was with glory, much more that which remains (or is permanent) is in glory.
Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away. We are to use great boldness. We will not put a veil over our faces. Instead, when we speak, the glory will come forth; and those who are open to see it will be changed. You will not have to hide the glory that fills you when you go before the Lord—that glory will shine forth. It is not the way you put sentences together that counts—it is the way that Christ comes forth in what you speak. Being filled with the glory of God is the key to all change.
When we speak about impartation, it is important to remember that impartation is just a channel by which we minister the Lord to one another.
Paul continued, verses 14–17: But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We are coming alive to God. It is the anointing of the Spirit and the glory of God that bring us liberty.
What did the Law bring? Bondage. Paul explained, “The letter kills.” It binds and renders us helpless because it reveals the knowledge of sin without revealing the means by which the sin is eliminated. Even if all sin were forgiven and removed, the human race would only have come up to zero. They still would not have attained even one attribute of the divine nature. For this reason, our salvation is actually composed of two parts. The first part takes us out of the human limitation of sin and death; the second brings us into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God (Romans 8:21).
Bringing you into the image of Christ is what salvation is all about. That is why worship is so important. In worship, you open yourself up to the glory of God. You can change as much by worshiping as you can by hearing a Word from God, because it is all part of the same thing. The Word comes alive when you open up and expose yourself to God. Just as Moses’ face was transformed when he saw the glory of the Lord, so you, when you expose yourself to the glory of Christ, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord, the Spirit.
This seems very simple; yet it is a profound and deep truth. We change by transformation, not by reformation. It is difficult for religious people to grasp this. Paul wrote to the Galatians, asking, “Having begun in the Spirit, do you now think to be made perfect in the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3.) When they first embraced the Word, it was God doing a work in their hearts; but somewhere along the way, they became impatient and decided to finish the job themselves.
You must watch this tendency in your own life. You will not please God by becoming only a disciplinarian. Merely working out the circumstances of your life will never please the Lord. There are two ways of doing something: Either you do it yourself, or you believe God to complete it and do it. If you put forth the effort to expose yourself to God in a situation, you will always overcome.
A person may say, “I never have any difficulty in quitting smoking. In fact, I’ve quit a thousand times.” He can quit easily enough, but the desire and the root of the problem is still there; and so, after a little while, he begins smoking again. From this example, we can see what God is showing us about the way change really comes. In the sight of the world, you may have a reasonable facsimile of righteousness. You may discipline yourself to look good; but under pressure, you realize that the old nature is still there.
Often a Christian may not want prayer when he is trying to overcome a problem, because he feels that he can do it by himself. However, the first time the pressure is on him, he will fall back into the same problem. Even though he seems to be victorious, the root of the problem is still there, just under the surface, waiting to pop up again. It is different for someone who seeks God and believes God to overcome a problem. When that person drops a habit or throws off a problem, he does it in the Spirit; and that thing is gone, root and all. Something has taken place in his life.
For this reason, you must let all your works be wrought in God. Let them be the result of an exposure to the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see something wrong in your life, you may be able to work it out yourself, but it will not be a permanent victory. The thing that is wrong is liable to pop back up, because what is born of your flesh is flesh (John 3:6). But if you let God deal with that thing, it will be done away with.
This does not mean that you stop praying and just wait for God to do it. You will always continue to be diligent, but your diligence is directed toward reaching into God for the answer. You are always believing God to meet you and to blast the problem into nothing. When you behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, you are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit, but if you reverse that statement and say, “The Spirit is Lord,” you will have virtually the same thought. Paul explained, “No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:3). It is when you see Him as Lord and are exposed to Him as Lord that change happens.
In II Corinthians 4:1 Paul wrote, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. What was the ministry he had received? He was able to minister Christ to people. In II Corinthians 3:5–6 he had already explained, Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Paul’s ministry was adequate; yet he knew that he was not adequate in himself. On the human level he could do nothing for the people; but he had received from God the ability to minister the glory of God to them and see them change from glory to glory. By the Spirit he was able to write the Word upon their hearts. Because of Paul’s ministry, it was evident that the Corinthians were a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. II Corinthians 3:3. This was his ministry. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. II Corinthians 4:5.
This is what we are reaching for. It cannot be imitated. There is no plan by which we can write sermon outlines that will change people. The only effective change comes by being exposed to the Lord. The Lord must be revealed to each one of us. This is what it means to be changed, to be transformed.
Following the leading of the Spirit could become something that we learn to do mechanically, by following certain disciplines and forms. If we establish specific patterns and forms of intercession and worship, we can easily find ourselves in a religious rut, just as every movement in the history of the Church has done. God forbid that we ever do that! May God open our hearts to see that change comes only as Christ is revealed, through us and through the Word that comes forth. Let that Word not be “the letter that kills”; rather, let it come with “the Spirit that makes alive,” with the glory that transforms us into the very image of Christ.
Have you changed more in the past few months than ever before? If so, was it not because you had been exposed to the Lord Jesus Christ? Never has there been an opportunity to change as much and as quickly as there is now, because this is the time of the Parousia, the time of His presence. Expose yourself to the presence of the Lord! Abandon any legalistic ideas you may have! Believe God that the Spirit comes forth in the Word you receive, not the letter.
I love to read the Scriptures, but the heart of my life is in working away at a passage until I see Christ in it. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4b. The issue is not how many words you read. One chapter that is truly revealed would be enough. In the history of the world, not one church or people has yet exhausted the full potential of even one verse to reveal God.
In order to prevent backsliding, some Christians follow this formula: read the Word fifteen minutes a day, pray fifteen minutes a day, and testify fifteen minutes a day. However, many who follow this formula have been known to backslide faster than anyone else, because they do it legalistically and do not see Christ revealed in it at all. You can pray, read the Word, and witness out of a sense of duty, and God may not be in it at all because it is the letter that kills.
Let us heed this message and never again fall into a legalistic trap. May we be delivered from everything that is religious death, because this truth is life. To be exposed to Christ is life! We will be transformed. We will be changed.
I have known some Christians who have no greater vision than condemning habits such as reading the comics on Sunday or drinking beer. Their entire religion is wrapped around do’s and don’ts. If you ask them what they believe, they answer by telling you everything they don’t do. They have a strict standard of the law, but that is the letter. It is not what you do not do that makes you spiritual; it is your exposure to Christ that makes you spiritual. What about all the old habits? They should and will drop off. You can get rid of anything that God shows you is wrong.
Let there be one rule in your life: be led by the Spirit of the Lord. Do not be governed by anyone’s human view of what he thinks is right or wrong; instead, keep your heart tender and sensitive to the Lord Jesus Christ. As much as possible, keep your conscience void of offense before God. This is life for you. If you keep a tender heart and a spirit of repentance before God, He will lead you; and you will find yourself tracking right in His steps, from glory to glory.